Projects

Kind of an interesting story. Back in November of 2006 there was a post for a free Wizard Of Wor machine on craigslist Bloomington, IN. I emailed the guy to see if it was available, because I think I saw the post a few days after it was online. He said it was already spoken for, and apologized. Well, that was the end of that. Or so I thought. Then, in late March I get an email from him saying that the other guy never came to get it, was I still interested. I told him I was, so I emailed him asking him when he was free.

Well, we kept missing each other. He would get back with me very sparatic, so we sent something like 20 emails back and forth over the course of the next three months trying to make arrangements. Usually he was only free for a couple hours on a Saturday and that was it. But finally, June 24th, I made arrangements and went down to Bloomington to get the game.

I came across this cabinet for sale at a local auction house, much to my surprise. I got to the auction late that morning, and it was one of the first things to be auctioned. Being a little flustered, I wasn’t as patient as I should have been, but I still knew how high was my limit. I ended up bidding $20 on the machine. I probably could have waited, there might have been one other interested guy, but the crowd was thin and no one was bidding. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

Welcome to my restoration / repair notes for my Atari Dig Dug machines. Over the course of my ownership I had a lot of problems with these two classic arcade machines. One Dig Dug started as a Land Sea and Air Squad, painted solid black. I restored that Dig Dug completely from the ground up, tracking down parts on ebay and through other arcade collectors over two years. The second Dig Dug was a nicer cabinet that I bought with the intention of trading. Both Dig Dugs gave me PCB and power supply problems right before I sold them to collectors in Indianapolis and Kentucky.

So, I hope these repair and restoration notes help you with your Dig Dug. I love comments, so leave me one even though I no longer have these games. You might be able to help someone else, especially those of us who hate those dang Atari power supply boards.